Forcefully Undercover
by AndromedaAI
Summary: Mirage didn't want to have anything to do with that device. He hated it because of what it could do. When Mirage is unable to board the Ark, he takes a stasis pod instead, and while in stasis, the device turns him into a human. Now stuck on Earth, he has to figure out how to change back. Oh, and he has to figure out how to keep the Decepticons from trying to kill him all the time!
1. Off Planet

**Hey all! Have you ever been attacked by a plot-bunny that never left you alone? Have you ever started a story and it crashed? Welcome to my world. This is how FoUnd (lol) was born. I hope you like, because Mirage has been pestering me about it. Leave me alone Mirage!**

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**Forcefully Undercover**

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1 – **Off Planet** – 1

"Come, Mirage!" he heard his leader call from somewhere ahead of him. He was running as fast as his pistons allowed, not resorting to his alt while still in the city. He could hear the Decepticons behind him, who were trying to stop them from getting to the Ark. The blue and white Autobot grunted when he realized that he had to make a decision.

He was a noble—well, a _former_ noble. He had lived the best life and had hunted turbofoxes for fun. His housing-unit had been located on a large estate on the edge of Tyger Pax, and had lived with his sire and his creator. He had been one of the leading elite, always in the know and was frequently featured in the tabloids. Single femmes bought pictures of him and fawned over them, always dreaming that maybe one day, one of them could be sparkbound to him. He was famous, he was well known, and he liked it.

But then the war started. He still held the attention at the beginning, but soon the bots that had been his fans began to forget about him as the war grew steadily and steadily worse. And when the rebel group known as the Decepticons attacked and destroyed Tyger Pax, it was forcefully knocked into him that the war was extremely serious when a red-opticed mech blasted a hole through him next to his spark chamber. He was left to die on the floor of his very own quarters, and he had time to think about how selfish he had been before he had been forced into stasis.

He had been a celebrity. Youngling mechs had looked up to him, wanted to mature into someone just like him one orbit. He had allowed it to swell his ego, and it had nearly cost him his life.

He dodged a shot fired at him from behind before twisting around and bringing out his plasma rapid-fire pistol from his subspace. He pulled the trigger and let bullets of plasma fly, and he managed to take down a couple Decepticons before he was forced to turn around and continue running.

::Mirage!:: Optimus exclaimed over a comm. channel. ::You must get to the Ark now! Do it by any means possible!::

::Sorry, Prime,:: the noble said, his digital voice sounding breathless. The light accent on his voice sounded strained. ::You will have to go on without me. I will take a smaller ship, maybe an escape pod…:: he knew the leader of the Autobots, the faction of the war he had joined, was hinting at using an accessory that had been created by Perceptor. The microscope had told him that it could change his size, shape, _species_, in order to make him a better spy. ::Because I am not using that Chameleon Patch! I would very much like to stay a Cybertronian, and I am not about to sprout wings and become a seeker!::

::But you must! They will kill you!::

::My electro-disruptor will do just fine, thank you,:: the spy retorted before dashing into a side alley. Quickly, he rendered himself invisible and wedged himself into an empty doorway. And then he waited, watching with anxious orange optics as the Decepticons charged into the alley, but continued on because the alley didn't possess a dead end.

Once they were gone, Mirage allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. He ran a servo over his faceplates before stepping out of the doorway. He kept himself invisible and resumed running towards the Ark.

::I have lost the Decepticons, Prime,:: he announced.

::I am afraid I have grave news," Optimus said. ::We're being attacked by Decepticons here at the launch pad. We must take off now!::

::I won't be able to make it then,:: Mirage grimaced. ::Go on without me. I will find a pod and follow you. And if I cannot, I will stay with the Wreckers. You have nothing to fear, Prime. I will join up with you again, _soon_.::

::Good luck, Mirage,:: Optimus said sadly.

Mirage heard the subsonic boom of the Ark's engines as it started, and stopped running long enough to watch the Ark lift gracefully into the sky. He watched it until it disappeared amongst the stars. Then he looked down and he suddenly felt extremely alone. But that was to be expected, wasn't it? He had dawdled for too long, and he hadn't used the Chameleon Patch like the leader of the Autobots had ordered.

Silently, the noble shrugged off the cloaking effect and became visible, then he used his electro-disruptor to disguise himself as a Decepticon before transforming and roaring away.

He came to a stop on the other side of Iacon. He transformed and swapped his disguise for another one before entering an abandoned building. The Autobot base was no longer safe, since Iacon no longer was protected by Autobots. It would be obvious if he stayed in the base, and he would surely be captured or offlined by the opposing faction. He made his way deep into the building and took shelter in a tucked-away storage room. Staying in an abandoned building was much less risky.

The mech sat down and crossed his legs. He opened his chestplates and took the device known as the Chameleon Patch out.

Mirage looked at it critically, taking in its dull grey appearance. It didn't look like much, but it was cutting-edge technology. It was something Perceptor had been working on since he had joined the war. The Chameleon Patch was the first and only successful device in the Chameleon Project, a project that was meant to enhance the performance of the Special Ops agents. Mirage got it because it suited him and his ability to blend in, and it helped him to blend in _more_. But he didn't like it. He didn't like how it felt when the device manipulated his parts.

Perceptor never got to make one for Jazz or the other Special Ops agents. They had to evacuate the planet.

The Chameleon Patch was…interesting to say the least, though. Made from technology taken from the body of a dead Shifter, it kind of made the bot it was installed in the same as the endangered species of Cybertronian, though it enabled the wearer to expand or shrink in size. Mirage didn't like it also because of how Shifters gave him the creeps, for a lack of better word.

The blue and white spy settled down and closed his optics. Quickly, his recharge protocols took over and he fell into a light recharge, not trusting that his disguise would keep him safe.

The next solar-cycle, he was up and moving quickly towards the Well of AllSparks under Protihex. Several ships had been hidden there just in case somebot got left behind. It took him several joors, but he managed to reach the sacred place undetected. He picked out a pod and ditched his Decepticon disguise before entering it.

He fell into the small cockpit and landed on the seat. He strapped himself in and felt the engines ignite before he was sent into stasis. He was not in a very comfortable position, though.

* * *

There was a loud crash, and suddenly his world was spinning. Everything was dark, and he was bouncing around. Why was he bouncing around? He had just entered the pod, and now he was getting thrown around like he was in a precious stone tumbler. He didn't like it, he could feel dents forming, and a dense processorache was forming. If this continued, he would be knocked back into stasis.

Slowly, the spinning slowed until he came sliding to a stop in the bottom of the containment he had suddenly found himself in. His processor continued to swirl for a few more minutes before he was able to sit up and try to find the door. He found it eventually, when it dropped off of its hinges, allowing light to flow it.

Why the slag was the door so big? He could clearly remember that it had been small and that he had been barely able to squeeze in through. But now it was big.

By reflex, he looked down at himself, and balked in surprise. No metal greeted him, only…organic…fleshiness. Scrap, the Chameleon Patch! "It must have activated during my time in stasis," the Autobot figured out loud. _And if I am in this form, those dents were not dents…but something probably more life-threatening…_ "I must go see a medic," he surmised.

He slowly crawled out of the pod, and as he went to slide out of the opening, a corner of the organic armor that had replaced the metal armor he had worn so proudly got caught on a piece of broken metal that jutted out from the side. It ripped, and sent him spiralling to the ground. He cried out as he hit the ground on his back. Pain raced up and down his organic backstruts and he winced, wondering how much damage the fall had caused. This form was much more delicate than his original one.

Another reason why he didn't like the Chameleon Patch. In order to blend in, it made him more vulnerable. The native, most dominant, life on this planet probably was teeny compared to the Cybertronian race, and he didn't like being small.

Slowly, he peeled himself up off of the ground, grunting and wincing as he got to his pedes. He stumbled around until he leaned up against the outside of the pod. Pain wracked his body, and he trembled. _Scrap,_ he thought, _in this condition, I will not be able to revert back to my Cybertronian form._ That meant he would have to walk, and he did not know where he was.

He looked back at the pod. He hadn't brought anything of value with him that was still in the pod, but would there be any repercussions if the native people found this? He sighed. It wasn't like he'd be able to hide it or move it. He was too injured and too small to do anything. So the fleshy mech turned and walked away from the pod, going in a straight line in order to prevent himself from wasting his time going around circles. The area he had landed in was densely packed by towering organic structures.

He assumed the ruling native life looked like what the Chameleon Patch had chosen. It was one of the functions of the cursed device. Using the pod, it would have scanned for sentient life, and once it found it, it would have changed him. Hence the reason he was so small, and was quickly getting annoyed about the current organic foliage that blocked out the light from the moon overhead.

A warm liquid dripped down from his forehelm and past his right optic. He stopped and touched it, and when he pulled his servo away, he saw that it was covered in red. He cautiously stuck his glossa out and tasted it, and recoiled at the tangy metallic taste. He was leaking a substance that played a similar roll to Energon, yet it tasted nothing like it. _I'm leaking. If I lose too much of this substance, I might be forced into stasis. I must find a town or something or I will be in trouble._ With that in mind, he resumed his trek through the organic-ness until he came out of the forest and found himself at the edge of a large expanse of ground-up granules—a desert. It somewhat reminded him of the Sea of Rust.

But the powder-like ground underneath him was not rust. He couldn't tell what it was, since he lost the ability to use his scanners when he was forced into this disguise. But he didn't stop. He walked quickly into the desert, spotting the lights of a town on the far side.

It was deep into the lunar-cycle, he could tell, and the single moon that hung in the sky illuminated the landscape enough that he was able to dodge the rocks, and anything else that would cause him further harm.

He quickly began to feel weak as the soft boots on his pedes struggled to keep him from losing his balance on the sand. The liquid continued to leak from the cut on his forehelm, and he wondered if that was the reason he was feeling the loss of energy.

He began to worry about that, but he pushed on, ignoring how the energy was steadily seeping away. The lights grew steadily closer, and he eventually came across a hard surface that was grey in colour, and that was covered in white and yellow lines. _A road_, he guessed. He looked off in the direction of the lights and saw that the road seemed to lead towards them. So he stepped onto the side of it, and began to quickly walk towards the light. He smiled slightly in relief, finding that the hard surface was easier to walk on. He began to walk faster, hoping that it was bring him to the lights in time to be looked at by a medic.

The lights grew closer and closer and closer, but he felt the exhaustion quickly took over. His steps slowed and he began to stumble and wobble. Panic slowly began to set in, and he wondered if he would offline out there, alone.

But lights flooded the road from behind him and he froze. Slowly, he turned and squinted through the light as a small machine—which looked oddly like a alt-form—pulled off to the side of the road. The headlights dimmed just enough for him to see through the light and see a feminine-shaped silhouette step out of the vehicle. On the other side, a male silhouette stepped out of the vehicle, and both figures stepped towards him slowly, as if he was some sort of predator.

"He-hello?" he called weakly, his voice hoarse. Hoarse? His voice box must be on the fritz.

The feminine figure rushed over to him and gripped his shoulders. "Oh my goodness! Are you alright?" she asked.

Mirage began to shiver, and his denta began to rattle against each other. He was confused, and all he could do was look at the woman as his processor desperately tried to figure out what was going on. He was obviously suffering from something akin to Energon loss, but he couldn't understand why he was shivering. He had stood out in temperatures such as these before, and had not even felt cold.

The femme looked over at her mech companion. "Jack, we need to get him to the hospital, he's going into shock," she said. "You drive, I'll keep an eye on him."

"Okay, Mom," the mech said before disappearing back into the vehicle.

The femme slowly lead him over to the car, and he didn't have the energy to object. He was forced to lay down in the back seat of the vehicle, with his legs resting on the floor. The femme kneeled on the seat next to him, and quickly began to check him over.

Slowly, everything became hazy, and before he knew it, he had dropped off into stasis.

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**Legasp! Mirage has come into contact with Mrs. Darby and Jack! How will this turn out, hmmm? See ya next chapter!**


	2. Helped

**Here's the next chapter!**

**Though I was a little disappointed that I only got 3 reviews for the first chapter, I will not complain about it. I'm not one of those people that will hold a fic hostage for reviews. I write for fun. And this is a project for me. **

**So, I hope you enjoy this chapter. And as a heads up, not much action in this chapter, but it is fascinating. Action is in the **_**next**_** chapter :)**

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2 – **Helped** – 2

June Darby watched the man sprawled out in the hospital bed with critical eyes. She had sent her son, Jack Darby, home hours ago as it had been past his curfew.

She studied the man, taking in his six-foot frame, thick black hair, skin that had been lightly tanned but was now pale, and how he sported several large bruises and a nasty cut on his forehead. June looked over at his clothing, which the other nurses had taken off of him and folded before putting them on the chair used for visitors. She walked over to them and picked up the jacket, unfolding it.

It was black in colour and sported a long tear down its right side. What did this man do to damage his jacket in that kind of way? She felt the pockets of the jacket, and found a wallet and a round object with a strange, but familiar symbol on it. She put both on the side table, and stepped back to see if her patient changed at all since she looked away. She wouldn't put it past him, because he was definantly strange. She had found him in the middle of _nowhere_, five miles from town, stumbling around like he was drunk, but it turned out he was terribly injured.

She had checked his wallet, but there was no driver's licence, so she had no idea what his name was. It seemed that she would have to wait until he came to before she would be able to ask any questions. And even then, she'd have to wait until he was ready to answer _any_.

Night slowly but surely faded to dawn, and Jack came to the hospital room to check up on his mother. She was sitting in the chair that she had been sitting in the night before, and she had dark circles under her eyes.

"Hey, Mom," the raven haired boy said, walking over to her.

"Morning, Jack," the woman said, returning the greeting, before she yawned.

"You didn't sleep, did you?" Jack stated. "Did you watch him all night?"

His mother nodded, her eyelids threatening to droop shut.

"Why don't you go down to the cafeteria and get some coffee and breakfast," her son offered. "I'll watch the guy, and if he wakes up, I'll talk to him."

June gave him a tired glare, but didn't have the energy to argue. Slowly, she got to her feet and walked to the door. She glanced back at him, and then looked over at the man, who was still resting peacefully. She then left, going as quickly as her sleepiness would allow. Jack went over and sat in the seat she had been occupying once she was gone. And there he watched the man, taking in his appearance, and wondering where he came from.

The man was breathing in and out slowly. There was an air of mysteriousness about him that Jack couldn't figure out. He wanted to figure it out, but he would have to talk about it with the Autobots. Maybe they could help him figure it out once he got to talk to the man currently occupying the bed.

Suddenly, the man's eyes fluttered open and he took a deep breath. Jack watched as he looked around, and once the man's eyes locked on him, Jack couldn't help but blink in surprise when he was that the man's eyes were a shade of brown that looked almost orange. _Burnt Sienna, as my art history teacher would say,_ he noted. The man's eyes bored into his blue-grey ones, and they both held themselves as still as possible. It felt that the man was examining him, taking in his features and attributes just like he had when the man was still unconscious.

Eventually, the man opened his mouth and asked, "Who are you?"

Jack should have expected that, but he ended up blinking in surprise. "Uh…the name's Jack Darby," he replied.

The man smiled slightly, and there was a small pause. "Nice to meet you, Jackson Darby," he said. Another small pause. "I...my name is…" he stopped, and a sad look appeared on his face. "I can't remember what my name is…all I can remember is that I might have had the nickname…Mirage…" The man looked at him, a worried look replacing the sad one.

Jack crossed his arms before standing and walking over to the man. "You can't remember? Well, that's bad. The nasty bump that caused that cut on your head must have caused you to forget your name."

"Yes, it is frustrating, since I can remember everything else…" the man said, irritation bordering his words.

"Mom will want a legit name though, so the hospital can say that you were here," Jack pointed out. "How about… I think of a name? It can be temporary…"

Mirage stared at him expectantly.

"Uh…" Jack rubbed the back of his head out of a nervous habit. Then, _the_ name just happened to pop into his head. "How…how about 'M. Raj'? Sounds like your nickname, but it sounds more…real?"

Mirage narrowed his ethereal eyes and stared at Jack until he felt like he was burning up underneath the look. But then the mysterious man grin and gave a satisfactory nod. "I like it," he said.

"G-good—!" Jack squeaked accidentally. "N-not like I want to push it on you, I just wanted to s-suggest it."

The strange man looked sternly at the youth. "It is alright, Jack. I accept the name."

Jack stopped and looked away from the man in embarrassment.

"What…erm…Grade are you in?" Mirage asked a few seconds later.

The boy slowly looked back at the man and noted the expectant look on the man's face. _Wow, he uses a lot of different expressions,_ Jack noted wryly before he answered the question. "I'm in the eleventh grade. Almost done school."

There was a small silence that passed between them, in which June returned to. She saw that the man was awake and allowed herself to smile. "Good to see that you're awake," she said as she came up beside the bed, holding a cup of coffee and a bagel. She put them on the rollable bed table behind her. With some caffeine now in her system, she found herself a bit more awake. Now she was ready to see if her patient needed anything.

"Jack, did you get his name?" she asked kindly.

Jack nodded. "Yep. He says he can't remember his real name, only that someone used to call him Mirage as a nickname. So we worked it out, and his name at the moment is 'M. Raj'."

June chuckled at her son's way of thinking. "Sounds similar, but nobody would know it until you explained. Good thinking, Jack."

"But it feels like we're going to pull some kind of _Knight Rider_ thing where someone will look Mirage up and find that he doesn't exist."

The man in the bed seemed confused. Jack waved off his incoming question. "Don't worry about it."

Mirage suddenly sat up in the bed, sitting up straight as if he wasn't covered in a cacophony of bruises. June and Jack watched in shock as he turned in the bed and swung his feet out over the floor, where he stood up. June examined his legs, and was shocked to find that the bruises that had been there were no longer there. She grabbed his arm and looked at it. She searched for a long, blue-purple bruise she had spotted the night before, which had run from his shoulder to almost his elbow, but was shocked when she saw that it was gone.

It had only been ten or so hours! They couldn't have healed that quickly! It took _days_ to heal a bruise.

The man noticed that the woman was staring at his arm, and her grip on it was beginning to become uncomfortable. "The…bruises are gone…" she said in an almost dazed voice. She glared up at him. "How did this happen?"

* * *

When Mirage was released from the hospital, he found that he had a lot to think about. During the time he had been in stasis, his processor had somehow accessed the internet (without his knowledge), and fed him information vital for a basic conversation with the native lifeforms. It was nerve-wracking, and he blamed it on the Chameleon Patch.

He had to lie to the boy known as Jack Darby so his name didn't sound so out of place. 'Mirage' was now his nickname and his human name was 'M. Raj'.

That was what he was, what the Chameleon Patch turned him into. He was a _human_. The term human defined all the sentient beings that walked and ruled this planet. And he was one of them, though he didn't know how. If he ever ran into Perceptor again, he'd have a lot of questions to ask about this device. At the moment, it felt like he had almost been cursed by it.

But… that assumption would have to wait until he was alone and could try to transform back. It'd be good to get his wheels back and feel himself slice through the air again.

At the moment, Jack was following him, since he didn't need to meet up with his friends until closer to noon, which was twelve hundred joors/hours in Earth time.

That was something else that he had learned. This planet was called Earth. And the Tyger Paxian accent he carried so thickly on his words, he found out, was a dead-ringer (as Jack put it), for this planet's 'Italian' accent. Jack had asked if he was Italian. Mirage figured an Italian was a person who lived or was from a state (or country) called Italy.

To further his disguise, he confirmed that he was from Italy. Something inside him squirmed uneasily after he had said it. But he quickly squashed it. He was a spy, spies needed to make up stories in order to keep people from knowing who he really was. It was his "job".

"So…where did you come from…before we found you just outside of town?" Jack suddenly asked, knocking the disguised Cybertronian from his thoughts.

A sad look clouded his face. "I come from a place far…_far_ away…" he said sadly, remembering how the Decepticons destroyed Tyger Pax.

"Like Italy, right?" the boy said.

Mirage looked at the boy but didn't say anything. He looked ahead as he walked down the street, no known destination decided.

"Nevermind," Jack sighed. "Forget I said that. It was wrong of me."

Still, the former-Cybertronian didn't say anything, he only let out a sigh before he turned and walked over into Jasper, Nevada's only public park. He sat down at a picnic table and turned to watch as human sparklings and younglings played and climbed all over a nearby jungle-gym. Cybertronian sparklings and younglings used to play like that once upon a time, before the war began, before Megatron silenced their happy laughter and charm by killing most of them. This planet was blessed to still have their young.

"Hey, Mirage? I'm sorry…" Jack said, sitting down next to him. "I didn't—"

"It is alright," Mirage said quietly. He looked down at the clothes he was wearing before looking over at the boy. "Jack, I do not like to talk about my home. But you can still talk to me."

The human sub-adult nodded. "Okay…" there was a long period of silence where the both of them just watched the children play. Eventually, Jack gathered enough courage to ask, "So…now that you're here, you need to get a job—or do you already have a job?"

_I do, but I'm not sure it would work here on this planet…_ the Autobot thought. "No, I do not have a job," he looked at the boy again. "Do you know of any I could apply for?" He hated the thought of working. He had been a noble, and had grown up _not_ working. Fighting in the war did not count. It was not a job, it was a duty.

"Well…I work at a fast-foot joint known as KO Burgers, the hospital's daycare is looking for an extra helper, um…and my uncle is looking for another farmhand to help him run his ranch just outside of town. Uh, that's all that I can think of at the moment," Jack said. "You won't earn much at KO or the daycare, but my uncle is offering free room and board for whoever becomes his new farmhand."

The mech sat there and thought. Obviously he would need to work in order to earn credits.

"How would I be able to contact your uncle?" he asked.

* * *

Jack allowed him to use his cell phone, and dialed the number for him before handing it to him. He arranged for a meeting with the man before hanging up. He had a lot to think about, and it didn't help that Jack was going to take him to the local tack shop in order to get him the right clothing. He wasn't in the mood, but he was slightly curious as to why the credits he had on him when he left Cybertron had turned into flimsy organic rectangular sheets while he had been in stasis.

Another effect from the Chameleon Patch. He had to admit that this time it was useful, but his still hated the device.

At the tack shop, Jack had him get a new pair of boots—Cowboy boots, a light button up shirt (when Jack handed him a red one, he put it back and chose a blue one of the same make with a pointed look in Jack's direction), jeans, work gloves, and a hat the boy called a "Stetson". There weren't any blue ones, so he settled with a black one that had a blue decorative band.

He ended up receiving a 'really?' look from the human boy, and he returned it with a shrug. "I like the colour blue," he explained in defence. _It's also the colour of my armor._

The cashier was also gave him a pair of bland-looking spurs because of how much he was buying. It was a "Buy so-and-so mount of stuff and get a pair of spurs for free" thing, as Jack had put it.

The tack shop was on the edge of town, so the teenager ended up having to call for a taxi because of how late it was getting. As Mirage listened to the boy talk to someone on the other end of the phone, he stood there, looking off into the distance (the sunset looked nice) while holding his bag of…stuff. Organic were certainly different. On Cybertron, everyone had a communicator built in, and when they bought stuff, they immediately subspaced it. Humans were different of course, but they had to use their servos for almost everything.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. A feeling coursed through him and made him feel uneasy. He knew this feeling. It was the feeling an individual got when they thought they were being watched. He got it often when he had been spying for the Autobots.

They were being watched. But by what?

Jack hung up and looked at him, noting the tense posture and look he had suddenly took on. "Hey, Mirage? What's the matter."

Mirage gritted his teeth. "Jack, call me Mr. Raj while in public. We're being watched," he said without moving his helm.

Jack paled. "S-sure thing, M-Mr. M—Raj." He took a step closer and whispered, "Who do you think is watching us?"

"I'm not sure," he hissed. He heard the sound of a ground-trembling pedestep, and his spark plummeted. _Decepticon._ He took a shaky breath. _What is it doing here? I'm not the only Cybertronian here?_

_Only one way to find out_, he thought. He whirled around, and stumbled back in surprise when he took in the large blue and grey pedes right in front of them. His optics widened in surprise and he quickly looked up. A red-orange face and one yellow optic met his gaze, and suddenly, it felt like his spark had snuffed itself out of existence.

_Breakdown,_ he thought with horror.

"Well, well, well, if it's not Arcee's pet with a friend!" the large mech chortled. "Knock Out! I found something you might want to see…"

At that the Tyger Paxian felt that he was going to crumble to dust. There were _two_ of them.

As the famous red mech appeared, the former noble felt something heavy appear in his pocket. He touched that pocket lightly and noted the shape of a gun. He wanted to grin, but at that moment, he really couldn't. _It seems that I can still summon my sniper rifle. Interesting,_ he noted.

But that didn't mean it held any hope of getting away from these two.

* * *

**Ah! There we go. Mirage has a human name, has found out some about the planet around him, met June and Jack Darby, has a possible job, and now has run into two Decepticons. **_**Two**_**. Action next chapter, people. I'm literally vibrating, I'm so excited. Oh, and I can't wait to write about Mirage's experience on Jack's uncle's ranch. Noble Mirage + Ranch Life = Hilarity. You're gonna do grunt work now, Raj!**

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**Girl Supersonicboy:** I'm glad you liked it. I'll update again as soon as possible.

**zrexheartz:** Hope you like the next one :)

**KayleeChiara:** Glad it's fun to read because it's just as fun to write. I think I should have written 'human!Mirage' on the description or something like that (or maybe not) hmm?


	3. Face-Time

**Sorry for having such a delay. My Transformers muse is being quite stubborn. But this chapter was almost completely finished, so I decided that I would finish it and allow you to enjoy it.**

**But please note: this doesn't mean that I'm going to start frequently updating this again. I'm sorry, but the chapters for this story, especially, need a lot of thought, and inner persuasion on my part. (I'm also very busy, so by the time I get any time off, my story ideas are barely moving). I hope you enjoy, and thank you for being such faithful readers.**

**(Another note: I didn't put any review responses at the bottom. I'll try to PM ya in order to talk about what you said!)**

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**3 – Face-Time – 3**

"Jack," Mirage whispered. He felt the boy step up behind him. He handed him the bag. "I want you to run as fast as you can. I'll deal with these two."

"But—"

"No buts, boy," he growled, turning his head in order to glare at him out of the corner of his optic. Jack shivered at the sight of it, and also wondered if he was seeing things. Were his eyes glowing?

"Yes, sir," he replied. He whirled around and ran.

"Don't let him get away!" Knock Out exclaimed. He went to run, but Mirage whipped out the gun and pointed it in the red mech's direction. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you," he said in a condescending tone. He clucked his tongue three times in mock disapproval. Knock Out turned to look at him confused, and Mirage fired the gun. A plasma bullet struck Knock Out in the arm and the Decepticon couldn't help but hiss in surprise.

There was a tense moment, but Mirage listened until Jack's running footsteps disappeared before speaking.

"I'd rather not shoot again, gentlemechs," Mirage said curtly. "But I'd rather not turn my back on you two. I do not trust Decepticons in any way. Are you going to return to you ship, or will you try to kill me?"

The vain red 'Con snarled. "I don't know who you think you are, but you just scratched my paint!" he exclaimed. He suddenly brought out a large Energon prod, and Mirage couldn't help but take a step back in surprise. _Energon prod, right…it hurts like pit when you're a Cybertronian, what will it do to a human?_ The Cybertronian-turned-human winced, knowing that now, he was in big trouble. Knock Out could shoot bolts of energy from the prod, and he was very agile, so it would be hard to get away from him.

Then he had Breakdown. The mech was so much bigger than him now (there had still been quite a size difference back when he was a Cybertronian), that if he wasn't careful, his hammer could kill him. Squash him flat.

All of a sudden, he didn't know what to do. He was no longer large enough to take these two. Absentmindedly, he reached into his pocket and felt the Chameleon Patch. He hadn't tried to transform yet, and he wasn't sure if he could.

His distracted look that was on his face must have been seen by the Decepticons, because, all of the sudden, they charged. Mirage yelped and fired at Breakdown, but began to run backwards when the plasma bolts merely glanced off of the brute's armor. He watched as Breakdown transformed his right servo into his hammer, but yelled in surprise as Knock Out's Energon prod stabbed the earth beside him.

This was too much. He wasn't going to be able to fight them. He turned and ran a few meters from the two Decepticons before he whirled back around and fired repeatedly at Breakdown's helm. The only reaction he got from him was wincing.

Quickly, he was pressed up against a wall, and pinned to it when Knock Out used his prod-head as a sort of giant cuff. He couldn't move his arms, and he was extremely worried the red 'Con would activate it while it still pinned him to the wall. His breathing had increased in speed, and he felt (he hated to admit it) scared.

"One little human," Knock Out remarked. He bent down looking at him in the face. "I have to admit that those little shots hurt—but I'd like to know how you know about us, how you are not screaming in terror, and why you remind me of someone I used to know?

Mirage narrowed his eyes and growled. He struggled against the prod before practically spitting, "I will tell you _nothing_."

"Snooze you lose," Knock Out said in a sing-song voice before reaching for the prod's handle. Mirage didn't understand what the phrase meant, but his squirming intensified once he realized that the red Decepticon was going to turn the prod on—with him in the shock zone!

But suddenly, there was a _whoosh_, and a green, blue and silver portal opened up. Mirage froze and looked at it with wide eyes, dreading what could come through. Both Autobots and Decepticons used GroundBridge technology back on Cybertron, and you couldn't really tell who's was who's until the soldiers of one of the factions came charging though.

With a defeated sigh, he closed his optics. _This is it…_

There was the sound of engines before there was the sound of two transformations. "Step away from the human," the voice of a femme ordered.

The former Cybertronian noble cracked open an optic in curiosity, but when he took in the newcomers, his other optic opened and he couldn't help but widen them both in surprise. Standing behind the Decepticons, in front of the portal, was a blue and pink femme, short and petite, and a large green mech almost twice as tall and three times as wide as the femme. He didn't recognise them, unfortunately, but he saw their blue optics and realized that they were Autobots.

He couldn't help but crack a smile.

Slowly, Knock Out and Breakdown turned to face the femme and the mech. And a battle ensued.

Breakdown charged at the green Autobot, and they began to exchange blows. The blue Decepticon brought out his hammer and swung it at the Autobot, but the Autobot ducked and it swung harmlessly over his helm. The femme flew at Knock Out and snapped out at him with a pede in a kick. He stumbled back with a cry before complaining that she had scratched his paintjob. Mirage allowed a small chuckle at that. It was a paintjob. He had learned that a paintjob was never safe during the war. Though, he couldn't really display his paintjob at the moment. He didn't have one.

Punches and blows were swapped, and it seemed that the neither the Autobots or the Decepticons would ever tip the battle into their favour. He gritted his teeth in frustration, before renewing his struggle against the prod with a new vigor. Slowly, it started pulling away from the wall, and it encouraged him to work even harder. Beads of coolant formed on his forehelm and slid down past his optics as he managed to free his arms. He could feel his now-organic pistons and cables working overtime, to the point of pulling themselves out of their sockets and couplings as he tried to break free.

The prod had been wedged into the wall pretty firmly.

Mirage finally got the prod out far enough in order to brace his pedes against it. With a massive heave, he thrust all his power into his legs, and let out a victorious, but somewhat tired, laugh when the prod fell from the wall and he was free.

He stumbled forward and glanced up at the four warring Cybertronians—right before the femme was sent flying backwards in his direction. He leaped backwards with a yelp, managing to narrowly miss being crushed by the small two-wheeler (judging by how many wheels she had, Mirage figured she couldn't be anything but). He stared at her with wide optics as she looked at him with glowing blue ones. She then got up, and leapt back into the battle.

As the battle continued, it got more ferocious. Deep dents and leaking scratches appeared on both the Autobots and Decepticons. Mirage wished he could do something to help his comrads, but nothing came to mind. That is, until he glanced over at the Energon prod, laying on the ground out of harm's way. _Excellent,_ he thought, before running over to it.

He got to it, hoping he'd be able to lift it. He gripped halfway down the handle firmly, before rearing back. Slowly, he hefted the prod from the ground, grunting and straining his arms. _Come on, Chameleon Patch! I need my strength now!_ he mentally growled.

The Chameleon Patch chimed almost mockingly at him before, suddenly, it was easier to lift the prod. He blinked in surprise, before holding the prod higher and whirling around to face the Decepticons. The Chameleon Patch had granted him more strength without altering his appearance. This was strange, but he quickly dismissed it as he fiddled with the controls of the weapon in his hands. The prod came on with a crackling noise, and a wicked grin appeared on his faceplates.

"_Signore rosso rottami metallici_," Mirage called, speaking in the native language of Tyger Pax. When Knock Out turned to look at him, obviously realizing that the insult was directed at him, Mirage pointed the prod up at him and fired. The bolt of electrified Energon slammed into the Decepticon's chest, and Mirage watched in satisfaction as Knock Out stumbled back with a cry and a curse. "You, sir, cannot hold me back."

Knock Out recovered quickly, and batted Arcee away as she charged up to him. "I recognise your voice, puny flesh creature. Tell me where I've seen or heard you before!" he demanded right before Bulkhead knocked him off to the side as he spun around for an attack aimed at Breakdown.

Mirage's smirk etched itself in his face as he shrunk the prod to a more human size and pocketed it. And since seeing that the Cybertronians were busy, he decided that he should leave. He strode away from the battle. With a smugger smirk replacing his previous one, he slipped back into his Towers mech swagger.

* * *

The former noble stood straight before the rough looking human known as Jack's uncle. The man's name was Obadiah Darby, and he was scanning Mirage with keen optics. Already, the man had bruised the ex-Cybertronian's ego a bit, by saying his name, M. Raj, made him sound like a city folk who couldn't handle the job of working on the Darby ranch. But he soon mended his ego by telling the man, "that he was perfectly capable of doing whatever he wanted him to do." He also threw in that he had been a soldier, so he could handle getting dirty.

In order to prove himself, Obadiah had Mirage muck out the barn. And the ex-noble had to admit, as soon as he started his designated job, that mucking out stalls was a dirty and smelly business. But he got the job done, and he was soon sent off to do another job.

He learned quickly that there was no way in the universe that he was somehow going to stay clean, and by the end of the day, that was proved when he walked up to the ranch house that dominated one of the hills on the ranch at the end of the day. He was caked with mud, and he could smell something awful coming from a patch of dirt on his right shoulder.

Inside the ranch house, he was steered towards what he guessed was the humans' version of a wash-racks. But they called it a "shower". He was handed a towel and a small cloth and told to get washed up. Which is what he did.

Once he figured out how to work the shower, he thoroughly washed himself, having trouble getting the soap out of his head of hair.

The rest of the week went like this, and he wasn't allowed any free time until the end of the mega-cycle. And it wasn't until then was he able to see Jack again.

But he wasn't alone. There was a young femme and an even younger mech with him.

"Mr. Raj, I'd like you to meet my friends Miko Nadakai and Rafael Esquivel," the youth introduced.

"Pleased to meet you," he said with a nod. The children had approached him on the street, and he wondered what they wanted. So he asked. "I have a feeling that you want to tell me something…"

Jack nodded. "Yeah. Those giant robots we ran into the other night? Those are called Decepticons. I should have told you this sooner, but you've been kind of…busy."

"I understand."

"Good, because those Decepticons know that you exist now. They're going to come after you…so—"

"You need an Autobot guardian!" the Asian girl finished for Jack.

Mirage took a step back. An…Autobot guardian?

* * *

**Italian/Tyger Paxian translation:**

Signore rosso rottami metallic: "Sir red scrap metal."


	4. Familiar Face-plates

**Wow, another chapter! I guess this is what happens when you watch the final episodes of Transformers: Prime and you get totally sucked back into the fandom. I found myself kinda drifting away from anything Transformers because of my brother's constant chattering about living robots. But Ah'm back, baby (as Jazz would put it), and with part of my muse (I think Mirage might have had something to do with it as well, but whatever). I'm happy, can't you tell?**

**Note: my brother has been dreaming that he becomes Knock Out. But the funny thing is, his reaction to it every time is "Yes! Now I have BUZZSAWS!" Yeah...**

* * *

4 - **Familiar Face-plates **- 4

"I-I do not understand!" Mirage exclaimed when they sat down at a picnic table in the middle of one of the only parks in Jasper. He decided to play along. "An _Autobot_ guardian? Why would I need one? I handled those Decepti…Decepticons quite well on my own."

Jack gave him a deadpanned look.

"Dude!" Miko piped up. "Knock Out totally had you pinned to that wall! If it wasn't for Bulk and Arcee, you would've been a goner!"

The disguised Autobot could only growl in frustration as he looked away from the three children and fingered the Chameleon Patch in his pocket. He wished that he could just transform in front of them and show them that he was perfectly capable of protecting himself. But he had no idea if that was a good idea. It might attract unwanted attention. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked. He glanced off to his side when he heard the engines of two sports cars and shuttered when he saw two Vehicons in vehicle form drive by, not noticing them. "We are in the open."

He looked back at the trio and saw them nod. "We know," the girl said shrewdly.

"The 'Bots are on their way. They're going to pick us up in a few minutes," Jack informed him.

Mirage's spark squirmed uneasily in his chest. Many questions ran through his head. Would the Autobots that these humans obviously knew instantly know that he's an Autobot as well? The humans couldn't sense who he truly was because they did not possess sensors like Cybertronians did. Mirage had no idea if the form he was in blocked his signal or not.

All he could do was wait.

Soon, a royal blue street bike, with a slim woman sitting astride it, a green Humvee, and a yellow Urbana 500 with black racing stripes pulled up to the curb. Mirage watched with fascination as the woman on the bike dissolved and disappeared. The Autobots.

He followed the human children as they approached the three vehicles. Jack went over to the street bike after he told Mirage to get in the Urbana with Raf. Mirage did so, rather delicately. He was sitting inside one of his own kind, and he couldn't help but feel awfully dirty because of it. He had never thought of the concept of actually _sitting_ in a fellow Cybertronian before.

The Autobot symbol on the steering wheel directly in front of him lit up as the Urbana emitted a series of beeps and other electronic sounds. Mirage tensed when he heard the familiar tones. He knew who he was sitting in.

It was Bumblebee.

"**Who's this guy?"** the scout asked.

He opened his mouth to reply, but Raf beat him to it. "His name is 'M. Raj'. He doesn't remember his first name," the boy genius said. The brown-haired boy looked up at him and said, "This is Bumblebee, Mr. Raj."

"The pleasure is mine," Mirage said politely.

What the young Autobot said next put the spy on edge. **"Why does his name sound so familiar?"**

Raf shrugged. The whole time, Mirage held his breath, afraid that they would find out who he really was. He didn't want them to find out because he had no idea how he was going to explain this situation, and he felt his honor and pride had been seriously bruised. But as Bumblebee pulled away from the curb and followed the Humvee and the street bike, the attention of their conversation turned away from him as they began to talk about something called 'video games'. He was relieved.

They drove down the street and soon were on a highway that lead out into the desert. He calmly looked out into the desert as it passed by, allowing his mind to wander a little bit. He didn't quite know how this had happened. He had come to this planet…realized that he had become a human…met Jack and his femme creator…and then ran into the Decepticons. He hazarded to guess that no matter what form, he would always be an Autobot, and he would always attract attention.

The highway eventually ended at a fork, but the sports car he was in continued in the same direction, causing his spark to lurch when they left the pavement and started bouncing across the sand. "_Bontà_! Are you crazy?!" he exclaimed as the Autobot raced towards a mesa in the distance.

"**I'm not crazy,"** Bumblebee retorted.

"Don't worry, Mr. Raj," Raf assured him. "This is how we get to the Autobot base."

Mirage looked at him and nodded, though there was a slightly unconvinced look on his face.

Once of the massive walls of the mesa was soon looming up in front of them, and Mirage surely thought they were going to crash right into it. But a door opened up in the rock-face, allowing them safe passage into the mesa. _This must be the Autobot base_, he realized.

Bumblebee drove down a short concrete tunnel before they were suddenly in the large main room. The Urbana stopped, and both doors opened. Mirage stepped out, and found him standing on the Autobot shield engraved in the floor. He couldn't help but stare down at it for a few moments.

"_Another_ human?!" a familiar voice exclaimed. Mirage looked up in astonishment, his eyes widening when he took in the sight of the familiar Autobot medic. It was Ratchet.

The street bike Jack had just dismounted sighed before transforming into the lithe femme that had nearly landed on him during his run-in with the Decepticons. "Yes, Ratchet. Another human," she said with a roll of her optics.

"But if we didn't bring him in, the 'Cons would have gone after him again," Jack added.

Mirage spun around, examining the inside of the main room. "So these are Autobot Headquarters, huh?" he stated, trying to act like he didn't feel at home around giant metal beings, but failing somewhat.

"Yep!" Miko chirped happily. He watched as she dashed up a set of human-sized stairs and disappeared into some sort of loft or platform. He decided to follow her, and did, but at a much slower pace. At the top of the stairs, he followed the railing until he was standing a few meters away from them. He swept his gaze over the room from his new vantage point and watched as the Autobots that had brought them in scattered about.

Once they stopped moving, the former noble noticed that the floor began to tremble with the sound of pedesteps. He trained his orange gaze on the large tunnel entrance on the other side of the room, where his audios told him that the footsteps were originating from, and watched as the largest robot of them all walked into the room. He was blue and fire-truck red, and wore a solemn expression upon his faceplates.

Optimus Prime.

His leader.

"_You must get to the Ark now! Do it by any means possible!"_

Mirage blinked and looked down with a sigh. He should have listened to him. He should have used the Chameleon Patch in order to get to the _Ark_ in time. He just had to be so retro-pig headed about it. And now, it looked like the Autobots had lost a lot of those who had been on _Ark_. He probably could have saved them if he could have made it to the ship.

The Prime walked over to the loft with only a few short strides. Mirage looked up at him, clearing his face of any emotion. He couldn't give himself away. Not now.

"I am Optimus Prime," the Autobot introduced himself.

Mirage held out his servo to the Prime, slipping back into his habit of accepting an introduction in this way. "It is an…honor meeting you, sir," he said in the most respect-filled voice he could muster. "I…" he caught himself before he could blurt out his real name. "My name is 'M. Raj'."

**"He can't remember his first name,"** Bumblebee added.

"I see," the leader of the Autobots said.

Mirage couldn't help but feel so small in Prime's presence. When he was an Autobot, he had been around Bulkhead's height, making him smaller than Prime by a lot, but not as much as Arcee. He held very still as Optimus allowed him to shake one of his large index fingers.

"Do you know why you are here?" Prime asked.

Mirage nodded. "I ran into a couple of metal giants who wished to see me harm. Jack told me that I needed to be under Autobot protection."

"Indeed," the Autobot said gravely. "Now that you have been put in danger, it is paramount that you are to be protected."

"Jack said I would need an Autobot guardian," Mirage pointed out.

Optimus nodded. "That would be the case for the children. But at the moment, we have no Autobots to spare. If need be, you will need to stay here at base."

"_Non c'è problema_, sir," he said. "Though, I do work on a ranch, where I get up and go to work. I cannot afford any commute time. My boss would have my hel—head." He blinked when he tripped over his words. He had almost said helm instead of _head_.

The mech's eyebrows furrowed, but otherwise no other emotion was shown. "I see…" he said, contemplatively.

Mirage cleared his throat. "But I can assure you, sir, I can take care of myself quite well. You do not need to worry about me."

* * *

It took a while of convincing, but Optimus eventually allowed him to return to working at the ranch and living a normal life. Except, this life Mirage was now living was not "normal" to him. He was used to being in the thick of battles or being sent to sneak around a secret Decepticon base.

He was relieved to know that he was not the only Autobot on this planet, but he was also relieved to be out of their base. It felt wrong to be deceiving his own faction, but he could do nothing about it. Or could he? He didn't know if he could even transform back yet. What if the Chameleon Patch was damaged and wouldn't allow him to?

That was absurd. It had given him the ability to lift Knock Out's Energon prod in that battle when he met the two Decepticons. He would eventually have to test it.

Evening, a few days after he met the Autobots, found him sitting on a boulder in one of the pastures on the Darby ranch. He was gazing up at the stars, searching for the one that Cybertron could be orbiting. A strange feeling, something between a mix of sadness and loneliness washed over him as he imagined Cybertron's lifeless husk floating through space.

It also made him think of the core, which was actually the creator of the Cybertronian race. What was the deity going through? Was he aware, or was he floating in some sort of oblivion?

Mirage rubbed his optics. He was only thinking like that because of how stressed he had been lately. Between work, spending time at the base, and wondering if he would ever be a Cybertronian again (if he ever got the chance), he hadn't had much time to wind down.

He sighed again. The sound of gunfire echoed in his helm and he shuttered. Could he go back to that? Could he go back to the war?

_Yes, I can_, he thought determinedly.

Reaching into his pocket, he drew out the Chameleon Patch and stared at it, taking in the symbol representing the Special Ops force of the Autobot faction. He rubbed his thumb digit over it. It was now or never. Could he really change back? Would it hurt? He had been in stasis at the time of his first transformation.

A determined gleam appeared in his fleshy optics. "I am ready," he said out loud. "Chameleon Patch, I would like you to change me back into my Cybertronian form."

There was a flash, and the pain was almost immediate.

* * *

**Italian/Tyger Paxian to English Translation:**

_Bontà_! - "Goodness!"  
_Non c'è problema_ - "No problem"

* * *

**Girl Supersonicboy:** "Sir Red Scrap Metal" was the best insult I could come up with in Italian XD But at least it was funny. Glad you liked the chapter! Did you like this one?

**San child of the wolves:** Glad you liked the contents of the chapter. I try to get it to draw people in. It doesn't look like 'Raj is going to get a guardian, but you never know. :3

**Topkicker26:** Don't we all love him? He's epic!

**KeepingThemAtBay:** Well, my muse is back! Let us celebrate! I shall be a Transformers fan for another year!

**Birdroe:** Strange how a noble working as a farm hand makes people laugh. Glad you agree that it's funny, because I killed myself laughing because of it.

**jarrah (guest):** I have updated! Did you like?


	5. Spotlight

**This chapter seems slightly choppy to me, but oh well. I wanted to write and post something for you guys before I dropped off the face of the planet. I'm not going to have any internet in ten or so days because we're moving the mobile home I live in out to land where we're setting up a farm. Yep, without access to the internet, I'll go slightly crazy, since I email friends and such, but oh well (again XD)**

**Hope you like this chapter!**

**(As a note, Mirage's Cybertronian form is based off of his G1 and movie counterparts, since the other Autobots seem to be leaning heavily on their movie counterparts' designs. Just wanted to put it out there. That means I'll have to draw a cover for this story now :3)**

* * *

5 - **Spotlight** - 5

Everything seemed to freeze up as icy pain ripped through him. He slid sideways off of the boulder he had been sitting upon and could do nothing to keep his body from slamming full force into the ground. He didn't feel the impact; his processor was more focused on what was happening.

He suddenly felt himself stretching, the flesh on his arms, legs, chest, face going taught. He squirmed as his human form increased in size, growing quickly to the height of thirty feet while the flesh was quickly switched to metal, pistons, and mesh. Beads of coolant dripped down his armor as his doorwings burst forth from his back and his helm finished forming. The red substance in his lines (Jack called it blood) became Energon as the transformation completed.

And he lay there, feeling completely exhausted by what he just gone through.

He took a deep ragged breath, his vents almost rattling as he did so. It took several minutes before his joints unlocked and the pain subsided enough for him to move his legs. He blinked his now-glass optics and took another deep breath as he tried to determine if the pain, which now only throbbed along just under his armor, had subsided enough for him to risk sitting up.

_I cannot lie around here all night. I must get up and get out of sight,_ he thought.

The former-noble rolled onto his chest and levered his arms under him. With a small grunt, Mirage managed to throw himself up into a sitting position, but at the cost of more pain erupting up his arms and across his chest from the effort. He couldn't stop the wince from appearing on his face as he slowly brought his servo up to rub the chestplates over his spark.

_If every transformation will be this painful, there will be a problem._

Being careful, he slowly rose to his pedes, halting and holding his position every time he received a stab of pain. The pain eventually faded to a point that he was able to straighten and stand upright with only aches of fatigue on the soles of his pedes, lower legs, and lower arms and wrists. He reached up and rubbed his face, blinking the fatigue fogging it away.

A grin nearly split his faceplates in half. He held his black servos out and examined their metallic-ness. He gazed at his royal blue forearms, and then reached up to touch his helm. He felt along it, his cheekplates starting to hurt with how hard he was smiling. The fact that he was able to transform back was just hitting him then, making his spark thrum with glee.

He walked into the forest bordering the ranch, the grin still plastered to his faceplates, and a small tune humming from his voicebox.

* * *

"_Team Epsilon to Team Alpha, we have secured the object,"_ the leader of one of MECH's many teams reported, speaking out from the radio-device on his left hip. He smiled.

"Good," he replied after he brought hand-held transceiver up before his lips. "Bring it to base; we need to examine it in order to see if we have a new _friend_ walking upon this planet." He hung it from his belt once again and walked over to one of the science stations. He accessed video footage from one of the head-cams among the members of Team Epsilon. His scarred face adapted a neutral expression as he watched the soldiers begin to take a large spherical object apart.

It didn't take long before it was in pieces and was loaded into the backs of the trucks they had taken to the site. That was the way of MECH. Quick and efficient. They had to get to the item, claim it, and take it back to base before the government noticed and sent the Autobots out to clean it up.

"_Uh, sir?"_ the leader of Epsilon suddenly said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"_There's blood, red blood on this piece,"_ through the cam, he could see the leader holding said piece. _"It's dry."_

"Bring it in, separate from the other metal. We'll study it first. It might give us clues as to whom was in that sphere."

Silas smiled as he turned away from the screen. They were going to finished Project Chimera one way or another.

* * *

Jack's phone rang, and he answered it, seeing as it was from Arcee. "Hey, Arcee! How's it going?"

It was several seconds before his guardian replied. "Jack, a Cybertronian signature just popped up, right on your uncle's ranch. Optimus wants me to check it out with Bumblebee," she said. "So I'll be gone for a while."

He sat up from where he had been lying in bed and smiled sleepily. "No prob', 'Cee…I'm just going to go…back to…bed…" he flopped back down, asleep instantly.

The blue motorcycle-former chuckled before hanging up. She turned on her headlights, and drove down the road. On the outskirts of town, she met up with the black on yellow scout, and they raced off towards the ranch. They sped over the speed limit in order to get there as quickly as possible.

Arriving at the ranch, they transformed up into their robot-forms and the femme began to scan the surrounding area with the portable scanner she had in servo. She slowly swung it back and forth and walked forward just as slowly. The beeps were non-existent until she walked up to a cluster of bushes and trees. It began to beep wildly, it was almost screaming.

Arcee stopped, holding herself completely still. She slowly looked up from the screen of the scanner and looked into a pair of orange optics.

* * *

Mirage froze when he heard the sound of two distinct transformations. He quickly disappeared behind some foliage and crouched down behind it. His processor whirled as he tried to figure out what he should do. Did those transformations belong to Autobots…or Decepticons? Was he in any danger?

He realized something as he watched the two figures begin to approach his hiding area. If he was found, he would not be able to return to his human form without someone eventually finding out. "M. Raj" would disappear, and that would confuse both the Autobots and the children. They would assume that he had been kidnapped by the Decepticons and mount a search party. There would probably be a fight between the Autobots and Decepticons, and somebot might die…

He had to get out of there.

As he was turning to leave, though, the sound of something rapidly beeping drew his attention back to the two coming his way. His cooling system shuttered and whined to a halt, and his optics widened exponentially. Uh oh, too late.

"_Rottami_," he stated with chagrin. His doorwings drooped and the cables in his legs tensed. In the back of his mind, he was readying to make a break for it.

When they came close enough, Mirage recognised them as Arcee and Bumblebee. That made the situation even worse. Autobots. The Autobots were going to find him in this form.

The device in Arcee's servo began to beep wildly, guiding her in his direction. The closer she got to him, the more frantic the beeping became. His spark sped up to match the pace of the beeping as he eased himself back half of step.

Arcee stopped before his hiding spot and stood, studying the screen. She stilled, but then slowly looked up and met his optics. She gasped, dropping the scanner and transforming her servos into blasters. "'Con!" she cried, alerting Bumblebee.

"_Scrap_," he hissed. They thought he was a Decepticon. But why…?

Right, his optics. They were not Autobot blue, they were orange. And he hazarded to guess that that was the only thing they could see in this lighting?

He staggered back and landed on his aft. Arcee's engine revved in warning, but he paid no heed as he jumped to his pedes, whirled around, and made a mad dash deeper into the forest. Almost instantly, he could hear the two pursuing him, and he had to wonder why he was acting this way. But then he remembered why. He had inadvertently set out a web of 'lies', which if broken, would cause a problem. He'd break the trust of the children, of his fellow Autobots…

He'd have to break it to them slowly. So they could 'chew' it and 'digest' it in understandable amounts.

Mirage felt something snag his pede, and he pitched forward with an undignified yelp. His momentum carried him through the air a short distance before he crashed faceplates-first into the ground. He grunted as pain arched through his systems.

Pulling his faceplates out of the dirt, he heard the two come to a stop behind him.

"Don't move, Decepticon," Arcee warned.

The spy hissed as warnings appeared on his HUD, pointing out that he had several dents in his helm and faceplates, that the pede that had been caught had been twisted slightly (he could feel it throbbing), and there were a few other things, but not as significant as the ones pointed out, littered about. He ignored them as he pulled himself back to his pedes.

"Why should I listen to you, femme?" he growled. His doorwings flicked once in annoyance as he wondered why he was even in this situation. Then he mentally slapped himself when he, once again, reminded himself _why_. He put himself in this situation. "Since I am not a Decepticon." And in less time it took to blink, he did something reckless. He threw himself down into a ravine he had noticed in the corner of his optic, and steeled himself against the pain as he somersaulted to the bottom.

Quickly, he initiated the Chameleon Patch's protocols and had it transform him back into his human form.

The transformation this time was numbing as what he could see of the sky seemed to expand as he shrunk. When the transformation was complete, he decided to play the "help! I'm a helpless human!" card. The cuts and dents that transitioned from his Cybertronian form would be convincing enough.

Such was the life of a spy.

"_Mi fa male! Stelle sopra!_ Help!" he cried, making sure his voice warbled feebly as he did so.

Several seconds later, he heard Arcee and Bumblebee approach. He sighed when he took in the femme's lithe form skidding down the side of the ravine. Feeling returned to his limbs, but he could now feel himself bleeding. The femme came to a stop before him, and sighed when she saw the state he was in. "Raj, what are you doing down here?" she asked crossly as she picked him up.

"I don't know," he snapped, feeling the pain set in now. "I was checking on the horses, since I _work_ on this ranch, and this slagging huge robot comes out of _nowhere_ and nearly _runs me over_! I fell into this ravine, and I got hurt." He grunted in pain as she cradled him in her servos.

Bumblebee chuckled, beeping and booping, as he came to a stop next to her. **"I don't think Cybertronians are going to leave you alone now, Raj."**

Mirage only groaned as a GroundBridge opened up behind them.

* * *

After June Darby cleaned all his cuts and bandaged them, he was left to sit on one of the huge berths in medbay, where he could be monitored by Ratchet. Jack, Miko, and Raf stayed to keep him company, and of course, since Miko Nadakai was there, it was never a dull moment.

The Japanese girl had gone out with Bulkhead, as soon as she found out Mirage was hurt, and had bought a large bag of big marshmallows. She came back, and announced that they were going to play a game called "chubby bunnies".

Mirage didn't know the game, so she, along with the two boys, explained it to him. The sole purpose of the game was to see how many marshmallows one could stuff into his or her mouth and still say "cubby bunny" without the marshmallows spilling out.

So the game began. Mirage picked up a marshmallow and stuffed it into the back of his right cheek. Then he promptly said, "Chubby bunny."

The other players, Jack and Miko (Raf said he wasn't in the mood), also stuffed a marshmallow into their mouths.

It went on until Jack's marshmallows spilled from his mouth with he tried to say "chubby bunny", leaving Mirage and Miko still in the game.

At eighteen marshmallows, Miko said, "Wubby wunny," and lost her marshmallows.

Mirage smirked as much as his enlarged cheeks would allow (this caused all three children to giggle), and stuffed one more marshmallow into his mouth. "Cuggy wunny," he said with as much dignity he could muster.

"We have a winner!" Miko exclaimed. She held a bowl out for him to spit the marshmallows into. Once he had empty his mouth, she asked, "So…how many marshmallows did you manage to stuff into your mouth?"

"Twenty-two," he answered smugly.

* * *

**Now, I don't know how many marshmallows one can humanly stuff into their mouths, but this is Mirage we're talking about here, he's not exactly **_**human**_**. The end scene was fun to write, though.**

**But what's MECH up to, eh? This story takes place during the first to second season, so I couldn't resist :)**

* * *

**Italian/Tyger Paxian to English:**

_Rottami_ – "Scrap"

_Mi fa male! Stelle sopra!_ - "It hurts! Stars above!"

(Note: I'm using Bing Translator, so this might not be accurate… X3)

* * *

**Stealheart7:** Why thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying this!

**San child of the wolves:** Thank you very much. I keep trying to improve my writing as I write on. In _this chapter_, this is what happens with the Chameleon Patch. He finally gets his Cybertronian form back, but then has a panic attack (sorta) and reverts back to human form XD. Poor guy.

**Girl Supersonicboy:** Not abandoning this story! I'm having a lot of fun with it.

**Topkicker26: **He is, isn't he? That's why I like him so much. And, well, the Autobots _do_ have their processors on other things, so they might not notice that there's something familiar about his human _name_, and his _accent_ *dies of laughter*.

**KeepingThemAtBay:** *sings* Cliffhanger, hanging from a cliff, that's why we call him 'Cliffhanger'~! Yep, my muse is back, and kicking too. Well, I'm going to be cooped up in a camping trailer with him for who-knows how long until we set up our house on our land, so let's see how long my sanity lasts. Mwa.


	6. Touchy-Feely

**Another chapter I managed to squeeze out before Saturday. I need to go pack up my room now, though, 'cause we just learned that we need our mobile home to be completely empty before we can move it -_-'**

**I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

6 – **Touchy-Feely** – 6

Mirage stepped out of Bulkhead's alt-form as Miko literally bounced out the other side. The former-noble watched her warily as the girl walked around the front of Bulkhead's hood and grabbed Mirage's wrist, dragging him into the ice cream parlor the moss green Wrecker had parked in front of.

Miko forcefully sat him down at a booth near the back before traipsing off to the front counter where she was going to get a food substance called 'ice cream'. Mirage smoothed back his hair and sat back as he waited for the girl to return.

His processor was still on what he heard when he had gone to the base that afternoon. Arcee and Optimus had been discussing what had happened the night before—they were discussing _him_. They didn't _know_ it had been him, but it was still an eerie feeling.

"_Optimus, with another Decepticon on the loose, we might have a problem. He was close to a human dwelling, and even though he said he wasn't a Decepticon, he could be lying."_

"_Arcee, until we know for sure who this new Cybertronian is, we must not jump to conclusions."_

Those two tidbits of the conversation bounced around in his head. When two bowls of ice cream slammed down in front of him, he jumped in surprise. Miko smirked and sat down across the table from him. "What'cha thinkin' about, Raj?" she asked

He would have rather said 'nothing', but knew she would press if he said it. "I am…thinking about my life, Miko," he replied. "It has been very complicated." He looked down at the ice cream the girl had set down in front of him, and took in the different chunks of candy in it. "What flavour is this?"

"White chocolate ice cream with Reese's Pieces!" the girl enthusiastically replied. "My favourite flavour!" She took her spoon, scooped some of the ice cream onto it, and shoved it into her mouth. Mirage slowly mirrored her, but with much more grace.

Once her mouth was empty, she asked, "Your life? What about your life?"

He frowned, his opticbrows arching down sharply. "I do not wish to speak of it," he rebuffed.

Miko pouted. "Aw, c'mon! _Please_?" she begged.

Mirage glared, and she stopped. Her eyes narrowed slightly, though, as she took in Mirage's eyes. Were they…glowing? Yes, they were! They were almost glowing orange.

"Dude! What's wrong with your eyes?" she pointed out.

He glared at her some more, and she pulled out a small make-up mirror out of her pocket (her host-parents insisted that she carried it around. Not like she used it.). Opening it, she allowed Mirage to look at his reflection. She watched as he gawked at the state of his eyes before he forced himself to calm down. He was one strange man.

* * *

Mirage later decided that he was going to walk back to Obadiah Darby's ranch, since it was not that far out of town. He did not want to be driven there by Bulkhead, not after how flustered Miko had made him at the ice cream parlour. He was still unnerved by the fact that his eyes began glowing when he started to feel pressured by Miko's questions.

He had just passed a store that loudly announced itself with a large sign, "THRIFT STORE" painted in bold red letters that were starting to peel and fade, when Jack pulled up beside him, Arcee carefully driving alongside the curb. "Hey, Mr. Raj!" the teenager greeted.

Mirage stopped and faced the boy. In turn, Arcee applied her brakes and stopped. "Good afternoon, Mr. Darby," he said curtly, folding his hands behind his back in order to hide the fact that he was clenching his fists in annoyance. "If you would excuse me, I need to get back to the ranch. Your uncle needed me to keep an eye on one of his mares. She's due to foal any day now."

He turned to continue walking on, but was stopped when Jack nearly threw himself off of his guardian in order to keep him from walking off. The boy gripped his shoulder firmly, and turned him to face him. "Wait," he said calmly. There was a look in the boy's eyes that told him that Jack was being serious. "What's the matter, Mirage? Why are you so grumpy all of the sudden?"

The disguised Cybertronian sighed in order to release some of his pent-up frustration, which continued to build despite the sigh. "I do not wish to talk about it," he replied. He turned, shrugged off the hand, and resumed his walk.

Jack quickly walked after him, coming up to walk beside him. "It was Miko, wasn't it? She annoyed you somehow," the boy guessed.

"Yes, Jack, it was Miko," Mirage ground out. He pointedly glared at Jack, and the raven-haired boy saw his eyes glow once again. So he _hadn't_ imagined it when they ran into the 'Cons that night…

"But I don't want to talk about it!" he continued, frustration building behind his words, colouring them. "I can barely remember who I am, and I do not want to speak of it. I do not want to remember that I can't remember who I am!" It was only by his training as an elite spy was he able to not stutter over the lie he had just spouted. It was another lie to add to his rapidly growing pile of lies, and he inwardly winced because of it.

Jack held up his hands and waved them slightly as a guilty look appeared on his face. "Okay, okay, it's fine. You don't need to tell me. I just wanted to see if you were okay. I'll leave you alone now," and with that, the teenager turned and went back to Arcee. Mirage watched as he got on and they pulled away from the curb. He watched them until they turned a corner and drove out of sight.

Then he turned and ran straight into someone. He stumbled, and the person he ran into, a man, lost his balance. Mirage reached out and steadied him, saying, "So sorry, _amico mio_. Are you alright?" his annoyance from before faded a bit, the manners that had been drilled into him when he was a sparkling taking hold.

The man straightened and adjusted the large-brimmed black fedora that sat upon his head. "No worries, friend," the man said, raising his gaze up to meet Mirage's. They stared at each other, both being similiar in height. A glimmer of something flashed in the man's eyes before it was quickly gone again. This left the former blue and white mech confused, but didn't stop him from filing an image of the man's scarred face away for a later time. This man set him on edge, and he didn't know why.

"Good day to you, sir," the man said with a tip of his hat. The man forcefully bumped shoulders with him as he walked away.

Mirage rubbed his shoulder. His eyebrows furrowed. Something pricked his shoulder when the man bumped it.

His spark did a funny wobble in his chest.

Something was just not _right_.

Later that day, when he changed back into his work clothes, he noticed a small brown spot on the shoulder the man had bumped. His senses had not been wrong, he _had_ felt a prick. But why would anyone want his blood?

He was disturbed. He couldn't stop wondering why someone had drawn his blood.

He got worried around midnight, while he was watching the mare. What if that man ran tests on his blood? His human Energon? Was there anything in it that would tell the man that he was not human?

Mirage shivered. He didn't know what to do. He could not go to the Autobots, and he had no idea where the man went.

And for the rest of the night, he sat there worrying, because he could not do anything.

* * *

"I bumped into a man talking to Mr. Darby today, took a blood sample," Silas announced when he walked into his head scientist's lab. The said scientist was holding up the mentioned sample of blood to a light, and put it down when he heard his leader approach.

"If I may ask, what is so special about this man?" the scientist asked.

Silas smiled. "I have been monitoring the Autobot allies' actions, and have come to the conclusion that this man," he paused and brought an image of the man up on a pad before handing it to the scientist, "has something to do with the Autobots as much as they do."

"Another ally," the scientist stated with audible curiosity.

"Indeed," Silas agreed as he watched the scientist study the man's profile from behind his goggles. "Darby addressed him as 'Mirage'. A strange name, don't you think?"

"The definition of the word 'mirage' is: something illusory, without substance or reality; and an optical illusion. I wonder why…?"

"My thoughts exactly. Why was he called 'Mirage'? So I approached him and accidentally 'bumped' into him. Got a good look at him. Unless he has artificial eyes of some sort, he isn't human. That's why I got a sample of his blood. I need you to examine it, Professor. We need to see if this 'Mirage' is more than meets the eye."

* * *

Mirage rung his hands together, as he paced the length of the loft. Miko, Jack, and Raf were not paying much attention to him, as they were busy with their games. At any time, he expected something bad to happen, something having to do with him. He kept expecting the man with the scarred face to pop up and announce to the world that he was not human, but in fact, an alien. To them, anyway.

That was why he came to the base, so the man would not be able to find him.

Not many things achieved in unnerving him like this instance. _Too many lies_, a voice hissed sharply from the back of his mind. _Too many_. And it was right.

Too many lies.

Mirage stopped pacing when the Autobots came back from a mission they had been on. But he did not meet any of their gazes. He was afraid that the look in his eyes would tell them all his secrets, expose all of his lies.

Large pedesteps made their way over to him. "Raj, are you feeling unwell?" Optimus suddenly asked from above him.

Mirage carefully looked up at him, smothering all emotion. "I am fine, sir," he said carefully, not allowing his voice to wobble even a fraction.

"He is not fine," Ratchet stated bluntly from where he was standing in front of the Cybertronian-sized terminal. The orange and white medic turned away from the terminal. "He was pacing earlier and stopped just before you returned. He's anxious or not feeling well." Mirage felt him scan him. "He's fine. So he is probably anxious about something."

Optimus look down at him again, and he couldn't help but grimace.

"Do you…wish to share what is troubling you, Raj?" the leader of the Autobots asked.

Mirage winced. The tone that the Prime used always had gotten him to spill what was on his mind. Optimus often did it to keep him focused, and to help him relieve himself of a mental burden. He didn't want to tell…but he _had_ to…

He opened his mouth, and before he could stop himself, he said, "I ran into a man yesterday."

"Gee, Raj, you must have one heck of a conscious if bumping into someone bugs you so much," Miko commented.

He silenced her with a glare. He continued. "At first, I thought he was just another man—I apologised to him. But when he walked away, he roughly bumped shoulders with me, and I felt something prick my shoulder. The man had taken some of my blood."

"Was this guy wearing a mask?" Jack asked suddenly.

Mirage looked up at him strangely. "No, why?"

Jack ignored his question. "Did the guy sport a scarred face?"

Mirage nodded, slowly.

Jack looked up at Optimus, and the spy look up as well.

"Silas," the Autobot leader said gravely.

* * *

**All questions will be answered. Eventually. Don't worry.**

* * *

**Topkicker26:** How can you _not_ get into trouble when it comes to being an Autobot (though they think he's a Decepticon)? Of course he turned back into a human! Everybody would be, like, "Hey, has anyone seen Mr. Raj? He kind of _dropped off the face of the Earth_." Facepalm indeed, I'm going to have fun writing that scene. And yes, that is Mirage on my avatar. That's basically what he looks like in my "Separation Anxiety" fic. I love my avatar so much.

**Girl Supersonicboy: **I'm going to do something like that in the future, I hope. I just have to think up something. Frankly, I got inspiration from Mercedes Wolfcry's "Grab It By The Horns" fic where her OC played Chubby Bunny with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

**San child of the wolves:** Thanks! I'm glad I amuse you. I hope I'll make the scene where they realize Raj is Mirage as perfect as can be when the time comes. But, spoilers, can't tell what I have in mind, or it will ruin the story. XD And don't worry, I think my sanity will remain intact. Mom's going to get an Telus "aircard" or something like that, that will give me internet access. I have online schooling to do. And I'll be going to the library a lot, so I'll have internet.

**zrexheartz:** It sounds fun, but I've never played it.

**KeepingThemAtBay:** I'll find time somewhere… :D


	7. Shut Up and Drive

**Another short (according to me) chapter :( but I have been working a lot on our farm. Our mobile home was dropped while being loaded onto the truck, so it's probably uninhabitable *sobs* so I'm stuck living in a camping trailer. No internet, no sewer, no **_**power**_**. It's so hard! But we arrived, we're going to thrive, and we're going to survive! (hopefully)**

**Here's the next chapter. I hope you like!**

* * *

7 – **Shut Up and Drive** – 7

It was nightfall again, and it found him standing just outside the ranch house that served as the hub for all operations on Obadiah's ranch. His eyes practically glowed in the night as he tried to suppress the feelings of paranoia and panic.

The Autobots and the children had told him all about the man he had run into that day. His name was Silas, formerly known as one Colonel Leland Bishop, and he was the leader of a terrorist organisation known as 'MECH'. They did not know why Mirage had had a run-in with him, but it was probably because they had seen something in Mirage. This situation almost caused Optimus to confine Mirage to base (again), but with Mirage's silvertongue, he managed to convince the large mech to allow him to return to the ranch.

He sighed. Sooner or later, he would have no choice but to camp out at the base if things got too dangerous. He'd probably lose his job.

Silently, he began to walk out towards the pasture where he had first transformed. _I think it's time I stretched my gears once again. And maybe I should choose a new vehicle-form. I believe I have the need to drive;_ a wicked grin appeared on his face._ Maybe even…race._

In the field, he gazed around to make sure there was no one who could see him, that no one was outside. He was a bit apprehensive about the pain, but he activated the Chameleon Patch anyway.

This time, he didn't fall over, and the pain wasn't as intense. In fact, it was more uncomfortable than painful. But once he was standing in his Cybertronian form, he traipsed off in the direction of the highway. When he got there, he crouched behind some rocks and spied on passing cars.

He was going to go out and enjoy himself. He survived through all this stress, so he deserved it.

An old clunker of a truck rattled by, and if still had a nose, he would have wrinkled it in disgust. The truck drove out of sight, and he sat down and crossed his legs. His doorwings flicked again when he saw another vehicle come into sight, but when he examined it, he saw it was a Ford Explorer SUV. It wasn't sleek, or fast enough. And he had done his research.

A Pontiac Solstice went by…

Too small.

A Westernstar semi-truck went by…

Too big.

A Nissan Juke passed by with its high-beams on, nearly blinding him as he tried to examine it.

Not sleek—and too small.

An Aston Martin raced by, and Mirage had to roll his eyes.

Not sleek _enough_.

But then he saw it. He had wished he could scan it, but had never thought he would see one in person. A bit of his vain side appeared for a nanoklik as he grinned before his orange optics turned green, and two green beams of light shot out and ran over the sleek frame of his new-favourite Earth alt. When he was done, the tech specs of the alt showed on his optics before he stood up and then collapsed into his new alt. A Ferrari 458 Italia.

He revved his engine, which had been altered and now revved with a higher pitch, and screamed out onto the highway below. If his faceplates were not hidden, he would have been grinning madly. How he missed the feeling of the air passing over the frame of his alt while he raced around…

Mirage continued to drive down the highway, and soon caught up to the Aston Martin that he had seen pass by before he had chosen his new alt. He stayed behind it, matching its speed. Maybe it would lead him to a race? Fancy, _fast_, cars like this often did at this time of the lunar-cycle.

Quietly, he followed, and to his satisfaction, the red Aston Martin did lead to a race—but an illegal race. Mentally, he sighed. Illegal. But no one would know he was in it…because he would race, and if he won, he would leave and not let the humans stop him, and the next day, there would be no sign of a royal blue Ferrari with needle-thin white and gold accents tracing his head-lights, tail-lights, and along the seam where his doors transitioned from the door to the window. He'd be in human form before the sun could begin to colour the sky.

He pulled up beside the Aston Martin, and quieted his engine. He had researched illegal street racing, and found that some illegal races were registration free in order to not risk a paper trail. This one, thankfully, didn't need him to activate a hard-light projection, a holoform, in order to sign any papers.

The Aston Martin revved its engines at him, and in response, he revved his as well.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as a girl with red hair and blue eyes, dressed in a black shirt and a jean skirt, walked over to him. He sighed. Great, it looked like the human wanted to speak to him, and that meant he would have to activate the holoform. Thankfully, he was one of the few that could do so, thanks to his electro-disruptor.

Activating his electro-disruptor, he made sure his holoform looked exactly like his human form. But he had it dress in black jeans, dark brown cowboy boots, a royal blue jacket, and had a black street bike helmet appear on its head. He had the helmet's visor tint to a black so that no one could see its face.

He wasn't expecting to talk to anyone.

When the girl was close enough, he rolled down his window. "Hey, you're new," the girl stated once she came up to his window. Mirage forced himself to not shutter as the girl leaned up against his alt. It would take a lot of explaining as to why his "car" moved on its own.

"_Si_, I am," he said.

"An Italian accent—nice," she stated before moving away.

The driver's side door of the Aston Martin opened and a young man stepped out. With midnight black hair laced with blood-red streaks, a pale face, and crimson eyes, the man made an imposing figure in contrast to his youthful appearance. Mirage narrowed his eyes and gripped his steering wheel as he watched the man walk around the front of his alt and down to his driver's side window. But he acknowledged him as the man leaned against the door, and took the time to catalogue the man's appearance and file it away. He even took special attention of the man's messy hairstyle.

"Well, _hello_ there," the man greeted with a one-of-a-kind vocal saunter that sent a chill up and down Mirage's frame. Great, the Aston Martin was a Decepticon!

"Haven't seen _you_ around here before," the 'Con continued. "How good of a racer are you?"

_Do not allow him to make you speak,_ Mirage told himself. _You've run into him before, and he'll recognise your voice. _Rottami_, why did it have to be Knock Out?_

Mirage turned his head towards Knock Out's holoform, acknowledging him. He held up a hand and shook it in a 'so-so' gesture.

"Being humble, aren't you?" Knock Out said condescendingly. "But come on, don't be shy…"

Mirage let out a low growl. Knock Out was one of those Cybertronians that would not stop pestering you until they got what they wanted. But he wasn't going to give in, not this time. So he shook his head and rolled up the window. He heard the Decepticon in disguise huff in annoyance before muttering under his breath, "Fine, be rude." Then he walked back to his alt and closed the door behind his holoform. This would be interesting. An Autobot versus a Decepticon in an illegal street race with a bunch of humans? Let's see how it all goes down…

Ten minutes later, the same girl who had commented on his accent walked out in front of the lineup of cars. She held up a handkerchief and then thrust it down, signalling the beginning of the race.

Mirage revved his engine, its exotic _vipp-vipp_ melding in with the melody of the other engines' throaty growls, and shot forward. The beginning of this race reminded him of all the races he had gone to watch in Helix, and it reminded him of that one illegal race he had participated in Tyger Pax. Many of the snobby rich mechs and femmes had decided that they would race to see who were the best of the creations of the nobles that resided there. Of course he went, because he had once held the same mentality of all the rest. He had come in second that day.

Today, he planned on beating Knock Out and coming in first.

At the beginning, Knock Out pulled out in front of him and positioned himself in front of him. Every time Mirage made to drive around him, he would block him. This ended up irritating Mirage to the point that when he tried to go around the red Aston Martin again, he rammed the right-hand corner of the 'Con's bumper in order get up beside him. Then he rammed into his side, sending him careening onto the gravel on the side of the road. "That is what happens to scum like you, _Decepticon_," he proclaimed as he left Knock Out in his dust.

He managed to pass another car, one driven by a red headed, male, teen, before Knock Out caught back up to him and rammed his back bumper. "This is _so on_, Ferrari fleshbag!" he heard Knock Out exclaim.

Knock Out came up beside Mirage and rammed his side. "No one scratches my paint!" the 'Con yelled.

"Aren't you scratching it now?" Mirage shouted back at him. He knew that paintjobs were not the most important thing in the world, but since he really wasn't in the war at the moment, he felt kind of sad that the Decepticon was messing his all up.

He swerved away from the Aston Martin, nearly swerving off of the road. He swerved back towards Knock Out and smacked firmly into his front passenger-side door. It crumbled under his front left tire, and he had to mentally grin.

Knock Out growled before he turned sharply and rammed his front into Mirage's driver's side door. Mirage cried out as he was thrown from the road and over a short cliff. He rolled several times until he landed on his roof. He groaned as his frame bent from the impact. _Great, that might inhibit me from transforming back into my human form,_ he thought. _I guess I'll have to sit like this until Knock Out leaves._ Up on the cliff, by the road, the 'Con was watching him, and he could tell it by his sensors.

The sounds of the other racers faded away, and Mirage watched as Knock Out transformed and leapt off the cliff. After performing one dramatic front-flip as he fell, he landed on his pedes next to Mirage's upside down frame. Mirage's holoform hung from the driver's seat, still strapped in. Motor functions were still available for the hard-light projection, but he had it hang limp from the seatbelt around its waist.

Knock Out knelt down and, with two sharp digits, opened the driver's side door. He grabbed the holoform from within and held it up to his face. Mirage made the holoform look like it was unconscious.

"This was the fleshy that gave me a run for my money?" the vain 'Con scoffed. He lifted one of the holoform's arms and let it drop. "I thought he'd be…more impressive."

Mirage made the holoform groan and shift a bit in the 'Con's hand. A visible shutter ran through the red mech at the possibility of a 'fleshy' waking up. But he was then distracted when three green sports cars with black racing stripes, a couple helicopters, and a large transport truck rolled up to them. Knock Out promptly dropped the holoform.

"What do you fleshies want?" Knock Out growled at them.

"We are MECH," a voice from one of the helicopters announced.

Mirage groaned as Knock Out growled a second time, this time louder. "You are the vermin that dissected Breakdown!" he cried. He transformed his servos into his circular saws.

"Indeed," the voice said.

_Scrap, it's the man that I bumped into today,_ Mirage realized. He deactivated his holoform, and initiated his transformation cog. Slowly, but surely, he transformed and found himself lying on his back before rising to his pedes.

"So there's two of you," Silas stated.

Mirage knew he was badly damaged. He could feel his Energon draining from him. He limped over to Knock Out before shooting a look up at humans in the helicopters. Knock Out glanced at him before doing a double-take. Mirage watched as he blinked a couple of times.

"You look horrible," the Decepticon said wryly.

"There's a scratch on your paintjob," Mirage pointed out sarcastically, bringing to light all the scratches that cut up Knock Out's finish.

Knock Out growled in response before several loud _click_s drew the attention back to the humans. Mirage winced when he saw the guns hanging beneath the helicopters and the humans peeking up out of the sunroof of the cars pointing their guns at them. Slowly, he reached up and rubbed the crest on his forehelm. He held his servo there.

"You are no match for the might of MECH," Silas announced.

Without turning his head, he looked at the mech that, when he had first came to Earth, had tried to kill him. "Fight?" he asked before running his servo down his faceplates.

"Hmm, drive," Knock Out decided.

And with that, the Decepticon whirled around, sprinted forward, leapt, and transformed. Mirage was only seconds behind him, half dragging himself behind the 'Con and transforming at the same time as him.

How was he supposed to explain this to Prime? Would he have to hide? "_Gentile bontà_, what have I gotten myself into?" he asked himself.

* * *

**Hmm…no idea if I had made Knock Out OOC, but I couldn't really tell because I've been kind of disconnected from the world :P Don't worry, they'll beat each other to a pulp soon. Two vain mechs duking it out. And I have no idea how illegal races work, so the setup is completely fictional.**

* * *

**Italian/Tyger Paxian to English translation:**

_Gentile bontà_ – Goodness gracious

_Rottami_ – scrap

* * *

**Girl Supersonicboy:** I have a lot up my sleeve, I just need to find it. I lost it up there somewhere. XD

**Topkicker26:** That explanation might not work very well. X3 He'd have to spill the beans. I've read that story, Mirage and Knock Out are brothers in that one. I lost track of that story. Silas knows, and you'll have to wait to see if Silas manages to catch Mirage in robot form or in human form.

**KeepingThemAtBay:** You can bet your boots that Mirage will be captured in one way or another. I can't wait to write that scene, I can make pretty good creepy scenes.

**San child of the wolves:** Next chapter, we'll see the results of the blood test. That's going to be a fun scene. Oh boy, it's going to be fun.

**LunarStar98:** I don't know if Silas is going to die in this fic…I want to keep this story as canon to the story as possible. He dies at the hands of Airachnid in the episode _Thirst_. And he will confess, I promise.

**Move-2-da-beat-femme:** Glad that you like it. I like your username, by the way. It reminds me of Jazz and Blaster.


	8. A Connection

**Poor Mirage, things go downhill fast for him in this chapter. This chapter seems a little jumpy to me, but I think it's because of how many steps this chapter had to go through. Read to figure it out, because it leads up to a big step next chapter.**

* * *

8 – **A Connection** – 8

Burning rubber, both the Ferrari and the Aston Martin screeched away from the grouping of humans. Knock Out quickly pulled ahead of Mirage, while the noble lagged behind, the effects of his injuries apparent. A small stream of processed Energon flowed from his undercarriage, and his engine was making strange, spluttering noises. He was struggling to keep up with the Decepticon, and he did not like that.

The stress on his frame made his spark sputter in a dangerous matter. He needed to rest, to just allow his systems to repair themselves.

"Come along, Autobot," Knock Out snapped. "The fleshies are gaining on us. If you want to end up like Breakdown, be my guest." And with that, the vain Cybertronian poured on more speed.

Mirage couldn't match his speed, even though he desperately tried. He was quickly left behind, and was forced to duck out into a nearby canon when Silas' helicopter caught up to him. His cooling fans couldn't keep up; his engine was starting to overheat. If he had to keep this up, this situation would likely force him into stasis. He would then be collected by MECH and he'd be doomed, because no one would ever know what would have happened to him.

So with that, the former-noble painfully transformed up into his bipedal form and whipped out his sniper rifle. He whirled around and slid to a stop before carefully aiming his rifle. Then he fired.

The shot just barely missed the helicopter, but it gave the weakened mech enough time to activate his electro-disruptor's cloaking function. He disappeared from the fleshies sights and ran from the scene.

He would probably need a medic.

* * *

Miles upon miles away from the scene of the run-in with MECH, Mirage allowed himself to de-cloak and lie down next to a clump of trees. He rested the side of his faceplates on the grassy ground and closed his optics lightly. His armor creaked and some of his damaged systems hissed in order to relieve pent up pressure that could be possibly damaging.

He didn't know what to do. He was still bleeding out, and the faint warnings on his HUD warned him of his fatally low Energon levels. He could barely move now, anyway, so he couldn't do much to change the inevitable. The Chameleon Patch could not turn him back into a human, so he was stuck like this.

_What…would the reactions of the Autobots be…when they find out that one of their own died right on their doorstep?_ he asked himself, a wry smile appearing on his lip-plates.

It would be a sad day when the children found out that their friend 'M. Raj' had disappeared off the face of this planet, never to be seen again. Would there be any tears shed? Jack knew him more than Miko and Raf, but he couldn't see Jack crying. Jack was too mature for that. Miko and Raf on the other hand?

Miko might not care. But she was a femme, so she might not be able to stop herself from shedding a few tears, even if she tried to keep a straight face. Raf might cry into someone's side or shoulder, because he was still quite young, just out of the sparkling years if you compared the human life stages with Cybertronian ones.

Raf, he was a smart mechling.

The sound of a car slowly driving up the gravel road only a short distance away made his processor fizzle with panic. He could be clearly seen, and he was defenseless.

But he could not do anything about it. He could almost feel the emptiness of his spark chamber.

_Funny, I should be in stasis lock,_ he thought offhandedly. _I shouldn't be even able to think._

He pushed those thoughts aside, focusing on the sound of a car door opening and then shutting, followed by the quick footsteps of a human. He guessed it was a human male by the subject's heavy gate.

_This would not have happened if I had listened to Prime and had changed form. I would probably be in the Autobot base, spending time with the other Autobots as I sipped on my evening Energon._ A small sigh escaped him. _Ah, Energon_.

He could remember how he used to enjoy tiny cubes of high grade while he attended parties amongst the other nobles. Those were good times.

He was broken out of his thoughts when a bright light was shone in his dimming optics. He winced and jerked the tiniest bit, causing his armor to rattle. Out of the corner of his optic, he saw a man approach him.

"What faction do you belong to?" the man asked, and thankfully, it wasn't the voice of Silas that he heard.

"Hmm?" that was all he managed to say, his voicebox barely functioning.

"Are you an Autobot or a Decepticon?"

All he could see was the man's silhouette through the light that he held in his hand. "I…I'm…an…_Autobot_…" he said in an as clear voice he could muster before he felt his systems begin to shut down. Rapidly.

His motor functions went, then his voicebox. His optics were next, followed quickly by his cooling fans. Then he was sent into emergency stasis, and the last thing he heard was the man saying, "Hold on there, soldier, we're going to bring you home."

* * *

Jack jumped when he heard the GroundBridge suddenly open. He turned, along with Miko and Raf, in time to watch as Ratchet and Bulkhead rushed into the portal. Several minutes passed before they returned, and the raven haired teen was shocked when they appeared from the GroundBridge plus two. In his arms, Bulkhead carried the limp form of a blue and white mech, who's optics were open, but where black, lacking light.

The sixteen year old took his time examining the 'Bot. He assumed it was a 'Bot.

The Autobot looked to be about as tall as Bulkhead, but almost a third as thin and narrow. The armor on his shoulders, chest, forearms, and legs from the knees down were royal blue. Between his shoulder and his elbow on both arms, his armor was white, and the same went for his thighs. His servos were black, and his face was a light, light grey/silver below the royal blue bandit-like mask that surrounded his dead optics.

"Hurry, into the medbay!" Ratchet ordered as Agent Fowler joined him and his friends on the balcony.

Bulkhead followed the medic, carrying the mysterious 'Bot into the aforementioned room. Jack looked at Fowler. "So…who's that bot?" he asked.

Agent Fowler shrugged. "I was just driving home from work, taking a shortcut, when I came across him. He said he was an Autobot before the light in his eyes went out, so to speak," the African-American government employee explained.

The boy's eyes widened. "So you're saying that he might be dead?" he asked with a hint of horror in his voice.

The agent shrugged again.

"That would be a bummer," Miko piped up. "We could always use another 'Bot…and I wanted to ask this bot some questions." Jack, Fowler, and Raf gave her varying degrees of the 'Are you kidding me?' look. She smiled sheepishly.

Fowler sighed. "I sure hope this one pulls through, because of the way it has been going with the Decepticons, we could really use the extra firepower," he said.

There was a small silence as they thought about that. There were so few of them, and they had already lost Cliffjumper. And with Wheeljack out there, and not within ready distance if they needed backup, they were in desperate need of help.

"So there's five of us, six if you count Wheeljack," Raf pointed out.

"So how many 'Cons do we have to go up against?" Miko asked.

"Five, plus an unknown amount of Vehicons that Megatron has at his disposal," Jack replied.

Fowler ran a hand down his face. "Which leaves us vastly outnumbered, even if our bots can cut through those Clone Troopers like a knife can through butter," he surmised.

Jack looked off towards the medbay. "Let's just hope the Autobot on the surgical table can pull through," he said gravely.

* * *

_Three…two…one…_

Mirage suddenly found himself plunging into a sea of light. The light slowed him, as if he had fallen into a vat of Energon, and he came to stand steadily on both pedes on something he couldn't discern apart from the light. Out of curiosity, he waved his right servo in front of him, testing the thickness of the light around him. It was syrupy, tangible.

Where was he? He scanned the area around him, but he couldn't discern any 'landmarks', so to speak. Fear clenched his spark for a second. Was he in the Well of AllSparks? Was he…offline?

He pinched a cable on his neck and flinched at the pain he received. If he was dead, he wouldn't have been able to feel that.

Suddenly all thoughts of being offline were pushed away when his audios picked up a sound that abruptly shot past him. He spun around, not quite sure if it had been a sound or an attack, for all he could see was the light and himself.

The sound repeated itself, but reached his audios much more slowly this time. He could hear what it was, it was two words.

"_Tell them…"_

He started in surprise when he fully comprehended what the words were. His spark stuttered when he instantly understood what they meant. But he refused. He had lied, telling the truth would break the trust of all who knew him. They would be angry with him.

"_Tell them who you are…"_

June and Jack would probably never forgive him. They were the ones who he had met first, the ones who saved him from bleeding dry. If they ever found out that they had treated and taken care of a Cybertronian…he didn't want to know what their reaction would be like. He hated to admit it, but he had grown fond of the humans. They had been his only relatable company while he was in human form.

Miko's reaction, from what he could tell was her usual reaction to anything Cybertronian, would be, as she put it, "cool". She was that type of bot—person.

Raf…Raf…he had no idea how the young genius would react.

He didn't want to tell them. He couldn't.

"_You __**must**__ tell them!"_ the words gained a voice, nearly shouting at the spy.

"No," he argued softly.

"_Your lies will be your downfall!"_

"No, they will _not_!" he barked at the words, the voice that spoke them. "I will _never_ let them find out! They will _always_ know me as 'M. Raj', and if they ever meet me in my Cybertronian form, they will get to know me as _Mirage_ as well!"

"_Ah, but Jack already knows your real designation,"_ the voice was smug.

His spark fell. If Jack ever found out about his real designation, he would probably grow suspicious.

Mirage's frown deepened when he suddenly remembered the moments leading up to right before he found himself plunging into this sea. He had been chased by MECH along with Knock Out, had managed to escape before his wounds got the better of him and he was forced to stop and rest. A human had found him, and by the sounds of it, the human knew about them, about the Autobots and the Decepticons. But after that, he couldn't remember anything else. What had happened to him?

His optics widened. Had he been taken to the Autobots?

"_Hold on there, soldier, we're going to bring you home."_ The voice of the man that had found him suddenly reached his audios once again, and his optics widened to their maximum width when he recognised the voice. It was Agent Fowler.

"_Rottami_! I _am_ with the Autobots!"

_Scrap, scrap, scrap! I am in deep slag now,_ he told himself.

"_Time to go now…"_ the voice suddenly sang. Mirage growled at how it spoke to him, but was distracted from what he wanted to swear at it by it continuing and saying, "_Three, two, one!"_

"Wait!" he roared before everything plunged into darkness.

* * *

Arcee stood by the head of the mysterious Autobot stretched out on one of Ratchet's medical berths in the medbay. Across the Autobot stood the mentioned medic with a scanner in servo. He ran the scanner over the wounds he had just repaired and sealed, making sure he had done the proper job, and that, if the Autobot made any sudden movements, they wouldn't open up again.

On the monitor above the head of the berth, the mech's vitals were shown. He was stable.

The femme leaned all her weight on one pede and crossed her arms. "So, Ratchet…do you know who he is yet? Have you identified him?" she paused slightly. "…Is that why you called me in?"

The older white and orange mech glanced at the blue femme for a nanoklik before returning his attention to the device in his servo. "Yes, I have identified him," he quipped. She looked expectantly at him. "I have identified him as the same mech you accused of being a Decepticon in the forest a little while ago."

A small dusting of a blush appeared on Arcee's cheek plates before she willed it away. "O…kay…"

Ratchet glared at her. "According to the scans I've taken of him his optics are orange. While it is understandable that you made that mistake due to the lighting and that he has heavily shielded his faction I.D. to avoid detection, you should have been a little more patient when you confronted him."

Arcee glared back. "Well, _excuse_ me! You weren't there to see how close he was to a human's dwelling! In fact, after he took off down a ravine, I found our newest human friend lying at the bottom, heavily _damaged_. This mech _ran over_ him!"

Ratchet suddenly took a step back in what could only be surprise, his turquoise optics widening considerably. Then he blinked and looked down and off to the side. He muttered something about a "connection" before he rushed out of the medbay.

* * *

**The part where Mirage was alone and surrounded by light took place in his helm, since he was in stasis. That annoying little voice was his conscience. Just wanted to point that out. But hey! Ratchet's made the connection!**

* * *

**Femme Swindle Combaticon:** Glad you like it!

**Topkicker26:** It wasn't like he did it on purpose. He just...got carried away. It's in your favourites, I checked :D

**KeepingThemAtBay:** Well, you'll probably find that out next chapter. But since Ratchet fixed his wounds, they might not even show up.

**Girl Supersonicboy:** Well, I'm glad KO wasn't OOC, because he is honestly my favourite Decepticon. I find its weird that fans think he's a "mad" doctor. He seems normal to me - though that might be because I'm "mad" too XD

**San child of the wolves:** Why thank you! Next chapter, I think I'm going to focus on MECH's interest in Mirage. Let's see how that turns out.

**KayleeChiara:** Well, MECH hasn't captured him yet, and Knock Out didn't turn on him, so who knows what's going to happen. This story has so much potential.

* * *

**[September 22nd 2013]**


End file.
